


the heart of the forest

by hanjingyi (notbadbrat)



Series: writober2018 [13]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 'allegory challenge' for ereri-prompts-challenges, Alternate Universe, M/M, Magic, Mistery, Writober 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 13:18:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16854694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notbadbrat/pseuds/hanjingyi
Summary: There was a small hut in the heart of the forest.





	the heart of the forest

**Author's Note:**

> Allegory Challenge #prompt3 for @ereri-prompts-challenges || Heaven (red list) for #27 Writober 2018

There was a small hut in the heart of the forest.

It was made of wood, its walls covered vines and strange plants, rising toward the roof and coating it in greens and violets and yellows and thin, woven branches, making the whole structure perfectly blend into the landscape. A warm light filtered through thick bunches of leaves, illuminating everything with a delicate glow. Simple, yet stunning, a heaven on earth.

A large number of bushes surrounded it, coveting the ground of the backyard visible from his point of view. He had been there plenty of times, silently gazing at the curious little cottage far and well hidden from the main pathway used by travelers or townspeople to traverse the forest. The first time was an accident, really -he was playing around, straying a bit too much from the path even though his parents had always warned him about the dangers of wandering alone. Bu he was 17, old enough to stand on his own and go back home quickly should peril arise, knowing those woods like the back of his hand.

The hut had been an unexpected finding and a pleasant development. He had not drawn closer until the third time he found himself there, armed with his bow and arrows and a short-blade knife taken from the kitchen -he would apologize to his mother later.

All it took was a couple of steps.

Suddenly, at the little window with the crooked, off-white curtain, the reflection of the trees all around him was not the only thing he could see. There was a face, stony and partly shadowed away, gaze unwaveringly settled on him.

Levi swallowed nervously and tightened his hold on his bow, lowering it slowly to make himself appear less threatening. He thought he saw an inkling of a smile, before the figure disappeared, leaving the young boy there in the eerie stillness of the forest.

He withheld his breath for a couple of seconds, waiting for any kind of sounds or angry yelling, and then exhaled swiftly, tension seeping away from his shoulders. So, the cottage was really inhabited. He had finally managed to confirm it, curiosity eating him alive during the day and every night before going to bed -living in a small village made things like that seem like exciting adventures in the eyes of a teenager.

Levi imagined that was as good a moment as any to go away. He turned a bit, never totally giving his back to the hut, and made his way toward the direction were the pathway. Or maybe he thought he was doing that. His feet brought him back to the cottage, circling around it and getting him near the entry, in front of a cute porch delimited by a banister adorned in more vines.

The man he saw before was there, leaning on it with his elbows, a cup full of a fuming drink in his hands. He wasn’t really looking at Levi, seemingly lost in his mind, and only when the boy’s feet halted did he glance up.

Levi’s breath stopped with his body, eyes wide and mouth slightly hanging open, in amazed contemplation.

He was beautiful, the boy noticed with a racing heart. He could easily pass a normal, perhaps, with his wide shoulders, muscled arms, high cheekbones, plump lips and eyes that probably stole their color and brightness by some mysterious gem. No, there was more of it -something in the olive tone of his skin, in the nobility of his facial features, the way his chin was held high but the look in his irises appeared to be gentle, almost innocently curious.

Something snapped in his chest, mind hazy and totally focused on the figure in front of him.

“This is not the first time you come here”

His voice surprised Levi, making him jump even if he saw him open his mouth to speak.

“I- no. No, it’s not. Sorry if it bothered you.”

“You’re apologizing?” the stranger scoffed, a smirk adorning his lips, gaze teasing Levi’s nervousness. “With a bow in a hand and an arrow in the other? Bold of you, I’d say.”

That made the young boy blush in shame, as if he was the one at fault where he had just wanted to preserve himself and be wary and prepared for whatever he’d have found. He got rid of the things he was holding quickly, eyes fixed on that strange man in fear he would disappear.

“I guess you don’t see me as a threat. Are you sure?”

Levi brought his weight onto his other leg, unable to stay still under that gaze, hand tightening in fists and lips parting in the attempt to formulate something out of his incoherent thoughts.

“You don’t seem very scary” was all he came up with.

The mysterious man lifted the cup to his mouth, sipping slowly and eyeing him with glowing turquoise, taking his time. It made Levi uncommonly nervous and undeniably captivated, and he tried to use all his self-control to not let it show.

“I guess I don’t” was the reply, eyes still boring into Levi’s in interest. “Though that’d be a very wrong assumption to make on your part. Who do you think led your feet here?”

Almost unconsciously, Levi looked down, glaring at his boots in betrayal. He spoke while facing the ground.

“How did you do that?”

No answer to that, not an immediate one, which brought the boy to loft his head up a bit and glance at the stranger from between his lashes. He was looking at him attentively, as if searching for something. The way his eyes shone, like millions and millions of stars were trapped in there creating a rainbow of crystalline colors, was like a magnet. He wanted to crawl closer and stare at them a bit more in contemplation. If only he were closer-

“Eager, aren’t we?”

Levi didn’t sense his body moving closer at all, one of his hands resting on the soft vines circling the banister.

“Indeed, you came to me on your own, which is impressive. No one can get around my shield, and yet…” he added, leaning slightly forward to better observe Levi. “Moreover, you’re extremely fascinating, for a human child.”

“What… what do you mean? What are you?”

A high-pitched sound cut through the ethereal atmosphere surrounding the cottage, making Levi take a step back and glance around apprehensively. A black shadow sped in their direction, soaring fast above their heads before settling for the farthest extremity of the railing. Only when it stopped did Levi notice it was a raven, his silky mantle giving it the same noble appearance of the hut’s resident.

He thought about what his mom and grandmother always told him -about dreams and symbols and fated meetings, about plants and flowers and animals being more than what they appear, about a particular raven croaking from twilight to dawn when his mother gave birth to him.

Levi looked at it and then back at the stranger, words swirling into his mind, remind him how  _protection_ and  _wrath_ ,  _change_ and  _power_ ,  _prosperity_ and  _inner demons_  were all concepts deeply ingrained in the symbology on the crow.

The man pulled a hand away from his cup, reaching his arm out with a casual gesture, a glint flashing into his irises.

“Would you like to find out?”

A choice was being presented to him. He wanted to be wise and, at the same time, he wanted to throw caution to the wind. Perhaps, following his instinct would make him abide to both sides.

So, it didn’t take him much to nod and put a hand on his.

“Yes.”

Taking a firm hold of the boy’s fingers, he drew him in, forcing him on the tip of his toes until their faces were barely apart. Turquoises irises sank into his being, the world around him blurring slowly at the exception of those eyes.

“Then come and find me, Levi.”

 

He jumped on the bed, sweaty and out of breath, as if he had run back home instead of waking up abruptly from the strangest dream of his life.

The mysterious man’s voice and face still bore into him, making his heart attempt to get free of its ribcage and rush right back to him, in that forest, the one he loved to explore and were he had found that very same small cottage weeks prior.

He knew that wasn’t a coincidence -he felt like he had been waiting for that exact moment his entire life. The dream had been too real, too detailed, still too vivid in his mind to be just a fragment of his imagination. And that was why he would return there, back to the abandoned hut in the heart of the forest.

And maybe, with a bit of luck…

Outside, in the middle of the night, a warm laugh echoed into the wood, awaiting.


End file.
